Gun Sales Fell 30% in 2017; An Unintended Result of Donald Trump’s Election
OutdoorHub Reporters 03.09.17
People have been speculating for a good while now about what will happen with the gun business since Obama has moved out of the White House, and since then, gun sales have steadily declined since Trump has taken the reigns.
According to data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) the call center logged 2,763,115 in December 2016; total calls for January 2017, were 2,032,108. That’s a 27% drop month over month and 20% year over year.
The FBI data doesn’t give us an exact reading of gun sales, as it only keeps track of its background check system being used by licensed firearms dealers, but it’s the best possible indicator of gun sales we have in the country.
While it may be natural to be concerned about the declining number of sales for some gun owners, other gun rights activists see the data as a sign that gun owners are finally confident their Second Amendment rights will be protected under the new Trump regime.
While this may be bad for manufactures it’s great for consumers. Firearms prices have been falling since the election and you can now pick up $400 AR’s with some regularity. Just 6 months ago that would have been the deal of the century.
